Rate My Professor Scott Sprenger

Scott Sprenger is a Professor of French Studies at Brigham Young University in the College of Humanities, with a focus on modern French literature and culture within the field of Literature. He earned graduate degrees in French from Johns Hopkins University and Emory University and served as an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1999 to 2001. During his tenure at BYU, Sprenger held several key administrative roles, including Associate Dean of the College of Humanities, Director of the European Studies program from 2006 to 2009, and coordinator of the French graduate program. He was also the Scheuber and Veinz Professor of Humanities/French studies and served on the executive committee of a Title VI Center for the Study of Europe since 2003. In 2009-2010, he advanced to full professor rank in the Department of French and Italian.

Sprenger's research encompasses modern French literature, culture, and European Union language policy, particularly the EU's multilingualism initiatives. He was awarded a Fulbright-Schuman Innovation Grant in 2008 for his project 'Learning to Speak European,' conducting research at France's National Center for Scientific Research in Paris from February to June 2009, as well as a Fulbright Scholar award there. He is the author of two books, more than 30 peer-reviewed journal articles, and several edited volumes, primarily on modern French literature and culture. Key publications include the article 'Ionesco anthropologue: mimésis et violence dans Les chaises' (Lingua Romana, 2016), along with reviews of Fabrice Amedeo's Les fossoyeurs de l'Europe: Diabribe politique and Mark Bauerlein's Literary Criticism: An Autopsy (both Lingua Romana, 2016). Sprenger developed the innovative Humanities+ program at BYU, which bridges liberal arts education with global career opportunities and has been acclaimed by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in national press such as the Chronicle of Higher Education. He delivered the BYU University Forum address 'When the Humanities Become the World' in 2014, contributes to public discourse on humanities through radio interviews and conferences like the Humanities Alliance Conference, and serves as a reviewer for academic journals and on the editorial board of a French university press, enhancing his impact in the field.